Colonel Gordon having sent officially to General Hunter the date of the commission of Cherrier, I have no doubt that all your uneasiness on that head has been set at rest long ago. The commission which has been recalled by me, was signed by my hand before I left Halifax, and was transmitted to General Hunter in order to have the date filled in, the same as in the commission appointing his predecessor, Ensign Alexander, to the post of Quarter Master in the 60th.

You will be, I am sure, pleased to know, that I continue for the present to hold my appointment as Commander in Chief in America, my leave having been lately renewed for another year. I know not if I will ever again be obliged to cross the ocean, but in spite of the attachment which I bear you all, I shall be inclined to do what I can to prevent it.

Madame de St. Laurent is well, and charges me with many remembrances to yourself and Madame de Salaberry, and believe, &c.,

EDWARD.

KENSINGTON PALACE,

1st October, 1801.

There has been no change in my position here, except my nomination to the first regiment of Foot (Royal Scotch) of two Battalions, in place of the Fusileers, which General Clarke has got, but this will not influence the post which I hold in America, and which I will retain, with permission to be absent on leave, till further orders.

The Duke availed himself of his being in England to press his claims on the Ministry, and clearly pointed out the repeated losses which he had sustained from his removals on service, and which by captures, shipwrecks, and similar causes beyond control, amounted to at least £50,000. He showed plainly that if the same justice were meted out to him as to the Duke of Clarence, that he would be entitled to receive £96,000, but if he were only placed on the same footing as the Duke of Cumberland, he should receive £48,000. Pitt had promised relief, but Mr. Pitt retired from office with his promise unfulfilled. His successor Mr. Addington promised, and forgot or repudiated his pledge. But it was under his administration that the Duke was transferred from the "Royal Fusileers" to the "Royal Scotch," and was shortly after tendered the Government of Gibraltar, an appointment which Mr. Neale has justly remarked, changed the whole

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current of his life, and entailed on him years of unmerited obloquy and mental suffering. Mr Neale states that he had seen a memorandum in the Duke's own hand-writing, and evidently corrected by him as late as 1818, by which it appears that the post was tendered, and not sought by him, and was only accepted after he had received the strongest assurances from Government of their fullest support touching any regulations which he might find it necessary to issue. In the following letter to Major de Salaberry, he incidentally alludes to his appointment :

--

KENSINGTON PALACE,

2nd April, 1802.

MY DEAR MAJOR,-I have been a long time in possession of your letter of 20th October, as it reached me toward the end of November, but I calculated that if I wrote you direct by the fleet, you would have my letter as soon as if I had sent it in winter by the packet, which makes a circuitous route to New York. But while awaiting the moment of departure of Colonel Doyle, who charged himself with my letters, an event has taken place which has totally changed my position, and which I am sure will affect you very much; it is no less than my appointment to the Government of Gibraltar, vacant by the death of General O'Hara. In consequence, I ceased on the 25th of last month to be your Commandant, and I will embark for my new post at the end of the month. The intention I believe is, not to appoint a Commander-in-Chief in America, while there is peace, but that General Hunter will have the command in Canada as Lieut.-General, and General Boyers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and their Dependencies.

I am the more delighted, that before resigning my post in America, I have seen you reestablished in the post to which I had appointed you, and from which you had been so unjustly displaced. I believe that you have no reason for fear, on the point which you appear to apprehend, that is to say, your residence at Quebec, for I have written to General Hunter to say to him, that in case your Battalion should leave Quebec, it is my desire that you should have leave, till such time as a new order is made to discharge the duties of your post in the Indian Department.

Everything is arranged in connexion with your youngest son, and General Hunter will receive by the hands of Colonel Doyle the Commissions for all the vacancies in the battalions of your regiment, signed by me, the Duke of York having had no desire to meddle in the matter; consequently the Scheffalizkys, father and son, have obtained, the first a Lieutenancy in the first Battalion, vice Juchereau, and the second an Ensigncy in the second Battalion, vice De Borderin, promoted to the Line, but I regret that for the

present I cannot fulfil my intentions in regard to the Marquis du Barrail, and I beg of you that in expressing my regret, you will also excuse me for not replying to his letter. Before I promised him a company, I was engaged for the first vacancy, to an old officer named Sutherland, whom I wished to have immediately appointed to the Newfoundland Regiment, on the retirement of Captain Bourk, and I considered that the transference of Captain Sutherland to this regiment would also furnish me the opportunity to fulfil my other engagements, by placing the Marquis in your Battalion, but unfortunately the protection of the Prince of Wales was extended to an officer named Frood, of the Newfoundland Regiment, and then I flattered myself that I could indemnify the Marquis in consequence of the retirement, but I discovered that Captain Frood, finding that he was a supernumerary Captain, refused to be named to the place. You will see well then, that this unfortunate circumstance arose from no fault of mine, and I hope that from my good intentions towards the Marquis he will do me the justice to believe that I am truly sorry; lastly, I will not fail to say to General Hunter, through Colonel Doyle, that my word has been pledged for the first vacancy, and that I count it a point of honor to fulfil it.

Permit me to charge you to present, viva voce, replies to the letters, which at different times, I have received from M. de Lanaudière, Curé Renauld, Baron Scheffalizky and Lieut. Dupres, and to which, from being surcharged at present with preparations for my departure, I am unable to find time to reply. You will say to M. de Lanaudière, that I enter fully into all his feelings on the subject on which he wrote me, and that if I have one cause of regret more than another, in quitting the command in North America, it is that I feel that the separation of the civil from the military functions has done the King's service essential injury, which I had it not in my power to remedy; add the assurance of my remembrance, and the interest which I will always feel in him, and which will not be diminished from the knowledge which I have of the unpleasantness to which he has been exposed in certain quarters.

Say to the Curé Renauld a thousand obliging things for me, as also from Madame de St. Laurent, and that we join in the most sincere good wishes for his health and welfare.

To the Baron Scheffalizky, you will please say that I think the best reply to him, is that sent to General Hunter-the commissions for himself and son.

Finally tell Lieut. Dupres, that being no longer in command, I very much regret that I can do nothing for him, but if I had retained it, he should have had the first company after the Marquis de Barrail.

Now, my dear Major, there only remains for me to add the assurance of the great regret of Madame de St. Laurent and myself, which we cannot express in person, as there is little appearance at

present of our ever meeting again, unless there be a chance of our returning to America, or of your coming here, either of which events you must be convinced is within the chapter of accidents, but at the same time we hope that you will never doubt our friendship, and that you will be at all times firmly persuaded that we will always preserve you in our memories; it is with these sentiments and wishes of friendship and esteem that I subscribe myself, my dear Major, from the bottom of my heart, Most sincerely and faithfully,

EDWARD, DUKE OF KENT.

CHAPTER VIII.

Gibraltar-State of Garrison-Instructions-Reforms-Military-Suppression-Recall.

1802 and 1803.

WE can find no other paper among the de Salaberry correspondence, under date 1802, but the letter which concludes the last chapter, and which is the only letter which makes mention of the Government of Gibraltar, we are thus compelled to fall back on foreign sources for an account of this most eventful period in the Duke's career.

Fortunately, from statements of the most reliable nature left by himself, and which have been adduced by Mr. Neale, and from official documents, we are enabled to place the train of events, under his brief, but important Government, clearly before our readers.

The Duke was appointed to the Government on the 27th March, 1802, he embarked at Falmouth on 27th April, and reached Gibraltar on 10th May.

In the first place, it is evident, that to the drunkenness and insubordination prevailing in the garrison, was due the tender of the appointment, and according to his statement, the Premier at one of the many interviews which he had with him on the subject, used this language:-"This state of things cannot be permitted to endure; it has lasted too long. It must be put down, and your Royal Highness is the man to do it. You may fully reckon on the fullest measure of support from the Cabinet at home." And on the 21st April, a few days before his departure, the Commander in Chief, the Duke of York, wrote:-" I consider it my duty on your "I assuming the command of the Government of Gibraltar, to make your Royal Highness aware, that much caution will be necessary to establish a due degree of discipline among the troops, and which I trust you will be able gradually to accomplish, by a moderate exercise of the power vested in you.' And another of his instructions was thus :--" It is essential that your Royal Highness should be made aware